Marquez was trying the outside line and Rossi ran him so deep into the corner he had nowhere to go. You can be sure that Marquez didn't intentionally ride off track: that usually ends in dropping the bike... and race over. Rossi was out-rossied yesterday.

First of all, Marquez wouldn´t have kept it on the track even if Rossi wasn´t even there. Rossi barely kept it in the track himself overshooting the corner a bit, and Marquez was turning as much as possible all the time too, he didn´t have to straighten the bike because Rossi was there. That "no room" thing is bullshit, he carried too much speed and went all by himself, that´s it.

Second, Rossi had defended the move succesfully. Marquez went off and completed the pass outside the track. Sure, only way to stay on the bike was doing what he did, but then he should have yielded/been forced to yield.

"New General Director of BMW Motorrad, Stephan Schaller has cited strategic realignment for the withdrawal and the need to focus on their international customer sports programme which focuses on domestic race series.

He said: “This is consistent with the strategic realignment of our brand. BMW Motorrad will now focus on the further expansion of the very successful product portfolio over 500cc, the expansion of product segments under 500cc, e-mobility and the development of market potential in emerging economies like Brazil and Asia.

"Only those who act consistently today are well prepared for the challenges of tomorrow. BMW Motorrad will remain involved in motorsport and in doing so we will focus on the international customer sport in all its facets. I want to thank everybody who has supported us on this long and successful journey.”"

When " focuses on domestic race series" means "going to MGP"? In 2012 BMW announces it is reducing its involvement in the 2013 World Superbike Championship by switching allegiance to BMW Italia and running just two factory-assisted bikes because costs. Since when MGP became cheaper than WSB?

First of all, Marquez wouldn´t have kept it on the track even if Rossi wasn´t even there. Rossi barely kept it in the track himself overshooting the corner a bit, and Marquez was turning as much as possible all the time too, he didn´t have to straighten the bike because Rossi was there. That "no room" thing is bullshit, he carried too much speed and went all by himself, that´s it.

Second, Rossi had defended the move succesfully. Marquez went off and completed the pass outside the track. Sure, only way to stay on the bike was doing what he did, but then he should have yielded/been forced to yield.

Yes, you can pass off track apparently. I´m trying to understand myself why it was allowed.

Skinny, relax. Ben Spies imediately picked up how Rossi braked too late and pushed Marquez wide. And if Rossi himself didn't complain but instead joked about it...

They both went too hot in there, they arrived the same speed and side by side. One barely held it in the track, one couldn´t. Marquez went off by himself, Rossi never made him turn any less that he could have turned had he been alone while he was on track. And how´s Rossi going to complain? I´m a bike noob but I still can think of a reason why he CAN´T complain.

It was allowed mostly because a precedent was set previously at Laguna in '08. You start switching decisions, you run into the wall that F1 and 4 wheel sports have had run into in the past which just causes trouble and leads to other conflicts.

Because he'd know you don't run off track onto rutted, dusty dirt to gain an advantage. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

Take a look at his huge signature, which is all the F1 rulz regarding overtaking. It appears he has problems in working out the difference between racing on 4 and 2 wheels. Perhaps he also feels there shouldn't be any overtaking in motorsport.

Because he'd know you don't run off track onto rutted, dusty dirt to gain an advantage. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

Pardon my ignorance.

Have you seen the surface where Rossi and Marquez ran off? Have you ridden at Laguna Seca? Do you honestly think that Rossi and Marquez would have gone quicker through there if they'd made more of an effort to stay on track?

Have you seen the surface where Rossi and Marquez ran off? Have you ridden at Laguna Seca? Do you honestly think that Rossi and Marquez would have gone quicker through there if they'd made more of an effort to stay on track?

Have you seen the surface where Rossi and Marquez ran off? Have you ridden at Laguna Seca? Do you honestly think that Rossi and Marquez would have gone quicker through there if they'd made more of an effort to stay on track?

i have , and a bet you a crisp $20 that Marquez knew that he had a bit to play with, Rossi just kept letting it run on the brake in the hope that the boy backed out, and he didnt , was a quality moment and its what racing is all about.......props to Marquez for going the long way round .

i have , and a bet you a crisp $20 that Marquez knew that he had a bit to play with, Rossi just kept letting it run on the brake in the hope that the boy backed out, and he didnt , was a quality moment and its what racing is all about.......props to Marquez for going the long way round .

He rode through the "gravel" there on his moped on Thursday evening and on his race bike during Fridays practise.

Makes for an interesting prospect. Although without having time to delve deeper right now, I wonder does this come at the expense of the satellite teams? Can't see how it should. If this means bigger grids then Nicky, Cal, Stefan et al should hopefully find/keep rides at the sharp end of the grid.

i have , and a bet you a crisp $20 that Marquez knew that he had a bit to play with, Rossi just kept letting it run on the brake in the hope that the boy backed out, and he didnt , was a quality moment and its what racing is all about.......props to Marquez for going the long way round .

It's hard packed dirt covered in a little bit of gravel that gets brought down the hill when people run off there. It's not "rutted" and it's not even sketchy at mild lean angles.

I wish they'd done something about Rossi's move but.... eh, MotoGP is a show and that was an incredible one. I get where they're coming from. Now the precedent is set though.

It was a repeat of something done already and form a guy who wanst just trying to beat a guy up coz his bike was miles slower as Rossi did in 08, but from a guy on a much quicker bike who would have done him on the straight 20 seconds later but was too impatient to wait and risked himself in pursuit of glory

That's Marquez and that is apparently why we are all supposed to be falling over backwards to like him

Rossi clearly pushed him wide on purpose giving Marquez the perfect excuse to take the enduro shortcut. Marquez took a lower risk than Rossi in 2008 due, first of all, to the existence of the precedent itself, and the much harder packed off-track terrain, so it was always going to be a defensive option, particularly against 46. I think it's ok nobody got penalties this time considering they both did something wrong and that the incident had no impact on the race result, since Rossi wasn't going to hold Marquez for more than a few corners anyway. If the same incident happened in the last lap I'm sure Rossi's attitude would have been a bit different. The "investigation" sounded like a message to say that "normally" it will not be ok to shortcut the corkscrew like that.

If you enjoy watching any big class GP racing you clearly are no bike fan. 2 and 3 are fair enough.

Sorry, but this current era is all about who has the best tech support with a bit of rider ability thrown in

No grace, no tyre management, no ability to push the front then spin the rear when front goes off. All fo a sudden two blokes who are under pressure for contracts are on podium speed! WTF

The artistry has been replaced by a laptop with a Marquez/Pedrosa/Lorenzo sticker on it

And if you think that is racing, you are delusional

What's you point buddy, throwing toys around for what purpose? Do you really believe racing was better ten or twenty years ago, you need the right bike to excel on the top, satellite bikes were always slower, I like the competitiveness of the MotoGP, on good days even satellite bike drivers can go for a podium or a win (like Bradl or Crutchlow). If you would have watched closely you would have seen that in the case of Bradl he upped his game recently, before Laguna Seca. And if you really believe any monkey could drive a bike like Marquez because he is controlled by laptop technique, you are delusional, MotoGP and the requirements change over the time, like in Formula One, you can switch off your TV, if you want "good" old racing, from the hard boys back.

Eh? Geoff Duke, Ago, Eddie Lawson & Rossi won the 500cc WC in their second year of 500cc WC racing. Kenny Roberts did it in his first.

Stoner won because the Ducati was a lot faster than the other 800cc bikes, all of which were in their first season of racing that size of engine. He didn't do so well when the other teams matched the speed.

By Mugello (race 6), Honda had already clawed back a sizeable chunk of the horsepower deficit. Stoner proceeded to get the remaining 7 of his 10 race wins from that point on. His team mate, managed to get one 3rd finish during the time they had the biggest power advantage, and managed to win 1 solitary race and a further two podiums all seaon.

Might I suggest you read up on a big bang engine firing order? You'll understand that the extra hp the ducati had came at a cost that none of the other teams were willing to sacrifice. Even Ducati changed the firing order eventually.

Don't kid yourself. Clearly, Stoner was absolutely brilliant. Very few people doubt that anymore.

It was a repeat of something done already and form a guy who wanst just trying to beat a guy up coz his bike was miles slower as Rossi did in 08, but from a guy on a much quicker bike who would have done him on the straight 20 seconds later but was too impatient to wait and risked himself in pursuit of glory

That's Marquez and that is apparently why we are all supposed to be falling over backwards to like him

I think MM was a lot more polished than stoner was in 06. Let's remember MM had a pretty good company around him with bikes and mentors and money. And let's wait till the end of the year to judge Marc. Its easy to stay on the bike when there is no real pressure with your 2 fastest rivals hurt but he did fall and make some pretty stupid moves under pressure earlier in his career. I'm interested to see when jlo and pedrosa are fighting with him again if he learned his lesson from mugello. Not saying fighting with Valentino for 2 laps at Laguna is the same as riding 100 percent with Lorenzo for 25 laps at full concentration. We new Stoner had a tendency to bin it at times and also when under pressure.

That tendency to bin it suddenly disappeared when he jumped onto a well sorted bike. Conversely, Rossi started binning it when he jumped onto Stoner's bike.

Marquez has had a number of massive crashes, none during the race. Thankfully for him, he has always walked away unscathed. Nobody chooses how to crash, you just hope you don't break anything when it happens, and Marquez has been lucky, the other two protagonists, unlucky.

His relative performance is right in line with what I predicted; multiple race wins, while not being quite fast enough to distinguish himself from Dani Pedrosa during his rookie season. That may change, if Dani's confidence or health is compromised. We'll see when we resume.

Meanwhile, in the bat cave.... my eyes tell me that Jorge Lorenzo was well placed to have have won 4 of the last 5 races; he won 2, Rossi on the sister yamaha won 1 with a severely handicapped J-Lo, and he missed one altogether in which he was a half second clear of the field in practice IIRC. Is Yamaha slowly rebuilding the advantage the M1 had over the field during Rossi's reign? What would it mean if J-Lo locked out the championship trophy for the next 4 years?

Sorry, but this current era is all about who has the best tech support with a bit of rider ability thrown inNo grace, no tyre management, no ability to push the front then spin the rear when front goes off. All fo a sudden two blokes who are under pressure for contracts are on podium speed! WTFThe artistry has been replaced by a laptop with a Marquez/Pedrosa/Lorenzo sticker on itAnd if you think that is racing, you are delusional

There have been ups and downs over the years, I don't see this trend you suggest. Technology, naturally, always evolves towards making things easier or less rider dependent, but this is a never ending process, some problems are solved and others come up, and riders have to adapt to changes. They still crash etc. Sure you need a good bike to win as always. The rider-to-rider differences may be down to little things and technical subtleties, not as obvious on TV as they were 20 years ago perhaps, but they're there.

His relative performance is right in line with what I predicted; multiple race wins, while not being quite fast enough to distinguish himself from Dani Pedrosa during his rookie season. That may change, if Dani's confidence or health is compromised. We'll see when we resume.

MM has certainly distinguished himself from what Dani did in his rookie year 2006, that much we all agree. I wasn't expecting him to be faster than Dani already, but in the only track they've both raced for the first time, Indianapolis, MM won with relative ease... He probably won't have Dani's raw pace on most of the remaining tracks due to inexperience, but I reckon his attitude will more than compensate for that.

Is Yamaha slowly rebuilding the advantage the M1 had over the field during Rossi's reign? What would it mean if J-Lo locked out the championship trophy for the next 4 years?

Really? As good as Jorge is, and he really is a flawless rider, I don't see the Yamaha winning more than 2 of all the races left... unfortunately. They should have banked a big points gap by now, in the first more Yamaha-friendly part of the season to make it happen... If someone wins the next 4 titles I think it'll more likely be MM.

Makes for an interesting prospect. Although without having time to delve deeper right now, I wonder does this come at the expense of the satellite teams? Can't see how it should. If this means bigger grids then Nicky, Cal, Stefan et al should hopefully find/keep rides at the sharp end of the grid.

Bring it on.

I'm not sure this helps the Satellite teams or makes the grid bigger. I think for 2014 the definition of 'factory' will be bikes that use their own software (eg. Yamaha, Tech-3 Yamaha, Repsol Honda, Gresini-Honda, LCR-Honda, etc). All teams that use a spec ECU will be labelled non-factory.

As I read it, this means that it will allow for the re-emergence of super teams (like the old 3 bike Repsol team). But the maximum number will be 4... so could place some of the Satellite teams in danger more than anything else if that is how it is going to work.

It also remains to be seen what is going to happen with the ART bike... will Aprilia still be involved with a spec ECU?

I guess some folk just don't get it,. or they maybe they they do which is even more scary!

I was reading some stuff about the 2002/3/4 seasons the other day. So many different manufacturers, lots of guys on the same bikes, decent grids in 250 and 125 and not a dominant bike in those all the time other than the RCV, buyt that was shared out to many after 02, with Barros, Gibernau, Biaggi Tamada, Melandri, Edwards all getting one, now you have to factory bikes, and two level Z Honda's one of which is only there to test suspension for SHowa!

Sorry but watching the same 2 or 3 blokes in contention in pretty much every class in pretty much every race is not enough to keep me interested and definately justify paying for BT! If it is for you then fine, I will stick to bowls!

You can mock all you like in your little Marquez glee club, but you will soon get bored too after he wins 4 title on the bounce and just about every race, as can you see anyone at all challenging him in the future?

The only thing of interest would be him moving to another team or Honda losing the ball as we maybe find out he cant develop a bike.

I admit, I don't like seeing one nation grooming its stars and the whole sport for a decade to then utterly dominate bike GP racing, it does nothing for me and I am not alone. Imagine F1 full of germans and GP2 and GP3 too. You can sit back and in your little happy isn't GP racing great club, but just wait and see, the viewers will drop off, just like when Mick was winning all the time, and Rainey before that, and Lawson before that.

I appreciate good riding, not stock car racing, and that is all Marquez did at Laguna, just like Rossi before him, but he didn't need to do it, he was on a much quicker bike, show some class boy and just rod past him, you have more power than the rest of the grid anyway. why risk crashing? But if you al thinik that was amazing and brilliant then agreed I am in a different world to you, I have witnessed good racing and riding, and that isn't it

I guess some folk just don't get it,. or they maybe they they do which is even more scary!

I was reading some stuff about the 2002/3/4 seasons the other day. So many different manufacturers, lots of guys on the same bikes, decent grids in 250 and 125 and not a dominant bike in those all the time other than the RCV, buyt that was shared out to many after 02, with Barros, Gibernau, Biaggi Tamada, Melandri, Edwards all getting one, now you have to factory bikes, and two level Z Honda's one of which is only there to test suspension for SHowa!

Sorry but watching the same 2 or 3 blokes in contention in pretty much every class in pretty much every race is not enough to keep me interested and definately justify paying for BT! If it is for you then fine, I will stick to bowls!

You can mock all you like in your little Marquez glee club, but you will soon get bored too after he wins 4 title on the bounce and just about every race, as can you see anyone at all challenging him in the future?

The only thing of interest would be him moving to another team or Honda losing the ball as we maybe find out he cant develop a bike.

I admit, I don't like seeing one nation grooming its stars and the whole sport for a decade to then utterly dominate bike GP racing, it does nothing for me and I am not alone. Imagine F1 full of germans and GP2 and GP3 too. You can sit back and in your little happy isn't GP racing great club, but just wait and see, the viewers will drop off, just like when Mick was winning all the time, and Rainey before that, and Lawson before that.

I appreciate good riding, not stock car racing, and that is all Marquez did at Laguna, just like Rossi before him, but he didn't need to do it, he was on a much quicker bike, show some class boy and just rod past him, you have more power than the rest of the grid anyway. why risk crashing? But if you al thinik that was amazing and brilliant then agreed I am in a different world to you, I have witnessed good racing and riding, and that isn't it

Interesting little post that. Here I was thinking that Rossi himself won 4 championships in a row during those good old days when the RCV was the only dominant bike and everybody had one. Motogp was never more popular.

Regarding nationality, I never understood the issue. I may be in the minority, buy I couldn't give a rat's arse where the riders are from. Oh crap, he's spanish too... I can't support or follow him.

I've got to agree with you there. I'm just interested in great racing.

Me to. Being from a country with zero prospect of a MotoGP rider, I couldn't care less about where a rider is from.

Funny to see that people have already moved from awe of rookie Marquez, to fearing that he will dominate for the next decade.

I agree that there are no one in the current Moto2 field that looks like they are anywhere near the same level, but Im sure that Lorenzo and Pedrosa, if he continues to ride, will give him better competition than what Rossi had, before Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa came along. We have actually been very blessed to have four riders with such talent in the same period in MotoGP. Stoner himself said something similar.

But when the very young Moto3 top talents get to MotoGP, I expect them to be on the same level as MM.

Me to. Being from a country with zero prospect of a MotoGP rider, I couldn't care less about where a rider is from.

Funny to see that people have already moved from awe of rookie Marquez, to fearing that he will dominate for the next decade.

I agree that there are no one in the current Moto2 field that looks like they are anywhere near the same level, but Im sure that Lorenzo and Pedrosa, if he continues to ride, will give him better competition than what Rossi had, before Stoner, Lorenzo and Pedrosa came along. We have actually been very blessed to have four riders with such talent in the same period in MotoGP. Stoner himself said something similar.

But when the very young Moto3 top talents get to MotoGP, I expect them to be on the same level as MM.